


Angels Are Watching Over You

by deankeptthecoat



Series: Destiel Oneshots [3]
Category: Supernatural
Genre: Angst, Fluff, M/M, Nightmares
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-23
Updated: 2018-05-23
Packaged: 2019-05-10 11:43:05
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,645
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14736329
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/deankeptthecoat/pseuds/deankeptthecoat
Summary: Dean wakes up from a nightmare, scared and shaking. Cas was watching over him while he slept, and he knew just what to do.





	Angels Are Watching Over You

**Author's Note:**

> This is a total vent. Sorry if it’s bad but it’s currently 2:45 and I just finished writing this. I’ve been feeling really down and having nightmares a lot, which has lead to me avoiding sleeping- aka what I’m doing right now. Sorry- oversharing I know. Anyway, this is fluffy and angsty. No smut. Sorry if it seemed like it was going that way in the end. Just fluff and angst.
> 
> Also it's shorter than my other ones. Sorry.
> 
> Also also I'm probably going to start one of my many many fic ideas soon so stay tuned for that..

He woke up in a frenzy, drenched in cold sweat. The sound that escaped his throat could hardly be considered a scream- it sounded more like what you would expect from a chicken that was slowly getting the life choked out of it. He could feel his stomach churning, his heart pounding so hard he thought it might burst out of his chest. His breathing was heavy. He took a minute to allow it to slow down before he opened his eyes. Slowly, slowly, slowly… nothing seemed out of the ordinary. He looked up to the ceiling, bracing himself for the worst. Nothing was up there but his fan. He was safe. Just to make sure, he patted up and down the bed and his body. Everything seemed solid. Real. Good.

“Dean…?” a voice said softly from his left. He flinched, still on edge. From the corner of his eye he could see the shadow of whoever had said his name and he slowly turned to see who it was. Dean expected something horrifying. He expected to see a demon, his father after a long night of drinking. He expected to see Sammy, but not really Sammy. Sammy possessed by Lucifer. Hell- Dean was expecting to see himself. But it was none of them.

“Cas.” Dean choked and started to cry. The angel wasted no time getting to Dean. He was sitting on the bed and cradling Dean in his arms in a matter of seconds. Dean was sobbing into Castiel’s trenchcoat and pulling on it, trying to get Cas any closer. The best they could get was hugging a bit tighter.

“You had another nightmare.” Cas wasn’t asking. He was stating a fact, and an obvious one at that. Dean had them every night. At first he was able to brush them off and go back to sleep, or he’d just make himself some coffee. But they slowly got worse and more vivid. Cas didn’t know what to do at first. He always watched Dean as he slept, but when Dean’s nightmares started getting worse, he still wasn’t sure what to do. Despite having known Dean for almost ten years, Cas still had a lot to learn. Eventually Castiel figured out what to do. Usually it was Cas helping Dean calm down until Dean fell back asleep, the sun rose, or- if it was really needed- Cas agreed to use his grace to make Dean pass out. They had a long way to go before Dean could even ask. He was still shaking beyond belief and choking out sobs.

Dean nodded. “I r-remembered it t-this time.”

“You did?” Castiel pulled away. He seemed just as surprised. Dean didn’t remember most of his dreams when he woke up. He just woke up scared. He didn’t know why, he just knew that he should be. Dean could maybe grasp a few images here and there, but he wasn’t sure if he wanted to. Those images seemed like they were the more tame ones. Now that he could remember his nightmare, they really were the tame ones. “What did you see?”

Dean swallowed. He felt cold and unsafe now that Cas wasn’t holding him. “You were being ripped apart. Not like when Lucifer possessed Sam and blew you up… it was limb by limb. And it was slow. You were screaming, and I was running to you but no matter how fast I ran I couldn’t get to you.”

That was hardly an in-depth description of what he’d seen. It had been so much more gruesome than that, but he didn’t know how to say it. How was he supposed to tell Cas how his screams were still ringing in Dean’s ears? How when Dean blinked he saw Cas getting his fingers and toes ripped off one by one? Or his eyes being gouged out with spoons?

Castiel shuttered at what Dean had told him alone. He didn’t need to hear anymore.

“Dean, I- I’m sorry.” Cas pulled Dean back in. He wasn’t crying anymore. His sobs had died down into heavy pants, and he still shook a bit. Either way, it was still comforting to feel Cas’ arms around him. Dean buried his face in Cas’ shoulders and took deep breaths, making sure to take in Cas’ smell. Cheap detergent and the coffee and whisky that Dean and Sam drank so much that it had rubbed off onto Cas’ trenchcoat. It was a weird mixture but Dean was savouring it. He closed his eyes and tried not to let the flashes of his dreams come flooding back.

Just focus on Cas, he thought. Just focus on Cas.

“I just want to sleep peacefully for once.” Dean sighed. “Without having to drown myself in booze or having you use your grace on me.”

“I’m not doing that, you know.” Cas said. “I did that two nights in a row already, and I don’t want to risk any side effects.”

“Better than no sleep at all right?” Dean chuckled. “At least I don’t have any dreams. I’ll take whatever side effects come with it. Just be like Mantis from Guardians Of The Galaxy.”

“I don’t know what any of that meant.”

“Right.”

They were silent after that. Cas was still holding onto Dean and Dean was still holding onto Cas. Dean was totally calm now. Cas was absent mindedly stroking the back of Dean’s head, running his fingers through Dean’s short hair as best as he could. Their breaths had synced up and Dean could feel Cas’ heart beating. It hit him just how close they were, physically. And just how vulnerable he was. Cas had seen him vulnerable before but this felt different. Dean always managed to get himself together by now. Five minutes at least had passed since either of them had said a word. Time started feeling like jelly and Dean started feeling heavy. Not tired heavy. Just heavy heavy. Regular old heavy. He was scared that he was dragging Cas down. Dean let his fists uncurl from Cas’ coat and let his arms fall down and sunk his head further onto the angel’s shoulders. Because letting go physically was absolutely the same as letting go emotionally. Totally. He wanted to pull away from Cas altogether, but he didn’t want to leave the safety of the angels arms.  
The angel wasn’t stupid. He felt Dean slump down. He felt the change in Dean’s breathing. He felt the way to air in the room seemed to get tenser. Dean had fallen asleep in his arms before this but this was different.

“Dean, are you alright?” Cas asked quietly.

“I’m not being a burden am I?” Dean asked. He felt Cas shift ever so slightly, as if he was uncomfortable. “I wake up in the middle of the night, every night, screaming and you always have to pick me back up. Every time.”

“I dragged you out of Hell. I can calm you down from a nightmare.” Cas cradled Dean’s face in his hands. “It’s not a burden. I don’t want you to be in pain like this. I don’t like watching you twist and turn in your sleep. I don’t know how to stop the nightmares but I can get you through the aftermath, right?”

“If you don’t like watching it then why do you sit by my bed every night?”

“Well I have to be there to help you when you wake up, don’t I?” Dean, like the weepy dumbass he was, started crying again. Cas wiped away the tears with his thumbs. “Don’t cry. That’s the opposite of what I’m trying to do here.”

Dean shook his head and leaned onto Cas again. “Can you stay with me tonight?”

“I always do.” Cas said, rubbing Dean’s back.

“No, I mean… can you stay stay?” he said softly. I don’t want to go back to sleep without you here.”

“Uhm, sure.” Cas nodded. He understood what Dean meant.

Dean pulled away for a quick second. They fumbled around while they tried putting the covers over them. Cas kept getting tangled up in them. Dean kept shaking. After a few minutes of awkward attempts at figuring out how to be in the same bed together, they settled down. Cas wrapped his arm back around Dean. This was weird for Dean. The only times he ever shared a bed with anyone usually involved a lot less cuddling and a lot more sex. The current situation didn’t seem to be going in that direction. Dean was too damn tired for sex anyway.

“This is okay, right?” Cas asked.

“I think so,” Dean said. “You have about as much experience with this as I do.”

“But you feel safe right?” Dean nodded and moved a bit closer. “Good.”

He felt safe. Cas’ trenchcoat fell onto his legs a bit, and the detergent-coffee-whisky smell was slightly stronger this time. Dean’s hand was playing with the angels hair, and Cas seemed just as content as he was. Dean’s eyes started closing on their own. He tried fighting it, enjoying being in Cas’ arms a bit too much.

“You should go to sleep, Dean.” Cas said. He couldn’t see that Dean was on the verge of passing out- Dean really liked resting his head on Cas’ shoulders in a way that meant Cas couldn’t see his face. He probably didn’t need to see his face to see that he was tired, though. Dean nodded slowly, re-adjusting himself so that one of his arms were slung over Cas and the other held Cas’ hand.

He murmured a very soft g’night right before he drifted off. Dean was too tired to really tell but he was pretty sure he felt Cas give him a tiny kiss on the top of his head. It didn’t matter; he was asleep before he could really process it.

**Author's Note:**

> Go check out my [tumblr](https://deankeptthecoat.tumblr.com/)! I'm more active there and reblog a lot of other fics I like, too.
> 
> Feel free to bully me if my writing causes you pain. Anything will do. Kudos, comments, reblogs, and anonymous messages about my fics give me the validation I am starved of <33


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